The Recruitment
by dkerr
Summary: A Transitioner fic insoired by a Charmed episode


Title : Recruitment  
  
Disclaimer - - I own nothing. Xander is owned by J Whedon, Fox, UPNS, etc, while the Charmed sisters are owned by Warner Brothers, etc.   
  
Note: This is a what if fic inspired by a Charmed episode I watched last weekend.  
  
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Xander looked up the long stairs to Halliwell House. It was late afternoon and he was definitely so not looking forward to this. Of course he knew all about the Charmed Sisters, and the Power of Three, about the valuable work for good they did, and how close knit they were. It was that last that worried him the most. One of them had crossed a line and it was his turned to pass on the good news. Well, no time like the present to take the bull by the horns, He started up the steps.  
  
The door was opened by a dark haired woman, not all that much older than he was.  
  
"Miss Piper Halliwell,' Xander asked. "My name is Alexander Harris. Leo may have told you about me."  
  
"No, he never said anything about you." Piper opened the door wider, a;allowing Xander to enter. "He's in the kitchen. You can wait in the living room while I go get him."  
  
Piper led Xander into a well furnished room, and introduced him to Paige and Pheobe, who were reading there, before heading for the kitchen where Leo was washing up.  
  
When she returned she was followed by Leo, and looking rather strange and her eyes never left Xander. "Leo says you're some sort of Angel of Death," her voice was small and strange.  
  
It got everyone's attention though, and soon everybody was staring at Xander. He smiled.  
  
"I like to think of myself as a transitioner, cause that's what I do. I help people leave this world and get to where they're supposed to go.  
  
Piper looked at Leo, who nodded. She turned her attention back on Xander.  
  
"So," she shrugged. "Why are you here."  
  
You know a man named Miles Stewart?" Xander glanced at Pheobe. "You're boyfriend I believe."  
  
"So," Pheobe grumbled. "You come here to rag me about my choice of boyfriends? Maybe you can tell me why there's been so many attacks on him."  
  
"His number was up a few months ago." Xander looked serious. "The boys upstairs are not happy about it. Messed up the whole planning department."  
  
"What?" Piper looked shocked.   
  
"What do you mean his number's up," demanded Pheobe angrily. "Do you think you can just..."  
  
"Hey, just calm down," barked Piper. She turned to Xander. "What do you mean his number was up?"  
  
"It was his time."  
  
"Then why did they send me premonitions."  
  
"Not premonitions, warnings."  
  
"They got these things planned," asked Paige. "They got somebody up there, who decides who's going to die on what day?"  
  
"That's not the way it works," said Xander. "They don't decide who's going to die when, they just know its going to happen, so they send a transitioner and prepare reports, and phone destinations to be ready. It's a whole logistics nightmare. Which is only bollixed up when someone goes and rescues someone who is not supposed to be rescued."  
  
"Like my boyfriend," said Pheobe bitterly.  
  
Piper stared her down.  
  
"So Miles was supposed to die. Okay, he's not an innocent. We don't save him. Will that solve everything?"  
  
"If it had only happened once or twice. See, it's not just that the person didn't die when he was supposed to do, it's that everything he's done since has altered things. Which is okay, but his continued existence has caused things, ripples, in the temporal plane, and we've been putting out wild fires ever since."  
  
"No," cried Pheobe. "I won't sit by and let you kill my boyfriend."  
  
"Pheobes," said Piper. "You know we can't stop death."  
  
Pheobe glared at her sister, and started to switch that glare to Xander when she paused and her eyes widened. "No....no....no," she muttered, slowly rising from her seat, and turning to face Xander. Who, in turn, rose to face Pheobe.  
  
"YOU BASTARD." she screamed. "You kept me here, kept us here while you, they, you let him die." The words were hardly out of her mouth before Pheobe launched herself at Xander.  
  
"Piper," shouted Leo.  
  
Piper froze her sister.  
  
"Its not just Miles is it," Piper asked Xander. "You've come for her haven't you."  
  
"Yes, maybe, I don't know, the juries not quite in yet." Xander glanced at Pheobe. "What happens when you unfreeze her. Will she continue on with what she was doing or can you just change it? She really should hear this." He thought a moment and piled cushions on the couch behind him. Satisfied, he stepped aside and nodded. "Unfreeze her."  
  
Pheobe landed on the cushions with a grunt, and rolled over glaring daggers at Piper, who looked apologetic.  
  
"Piper did what she did because she knew that if your attack succeeded things would be that much worse. Or maybe Leo told her, or whatever. Just be glad she did."  
  
Pheobe transferred her glare at Xander.  
  
"See, the boys upstairs, they're rather concerned with the situation down here. The Power of Three is supposed to be used for good, and they're afraid that it's going to be used for not good reasons."  
  
"So they're going to kill Pheobes," said Piper. She stood up from her chair and came to stand before Xander, looking at him straight in the eye. "If they do that, they can find another Charmed Three. Cause not only will the three be broken but I',m going to renounce my powers." Paige nodded and came to stand beside Piper, and Pheobes who had come around to stand behind Piper, reddened eyes glaring hotly. Leo looked troubled, but finally nodded and joined the three witches. They all stared at Xander.  
  
"That is an option they're willing to live with, until the next suitable trio of witches comes along."  
  
Piper looked momentarily deflated. "Okay, that's their decision then. I meant what I said."  
  
Xander glanced at the others, who looked just as determined. He sighed. "You realize this doesn't change anything. There are still consequence coming Pheobe's way."  
  
"I don't care," gritted Piper. "If they're going to be that petty, I don't want to be working for them."  
  
Xander reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded sheet of paper.   
  
"Just prepare this spell, and the Power of Three will be irrevocably renounced. You won't get them back. You'll be completely normal."  
  
"But someone else will get the powers," asked Leo. "They'll still be here."  
  
"That's not up to me. Look, why don't you take some time to think about this."  
  
"I don't need to wait." Piper snatched away the paper and glanced at it. "Okay, we got what we need. Let's go." She turned and stalked towards the kitchen.  
  
"Wait," cried Pheobe. "Give up the Power of Three. I can't ask you to do that."  
  
"Pheobe, without you there won't be the Power of Three, and there's no Power of Two. It's all of us or none."  
  
"Yes, but you'd still be witches. You could still save innocents."  
  
"I don't know that I'd want to."  
  
Pheobe turned wildly to Xander. "Isn't there another option, one where I get punished but they don't." She laughed sharply. "It's my screw up, not their's."  
  
"There is another option," Xander told her. "It's not the majority choice, but your willingness to work with it might go a long way to swinging opinion."  
  
"What? What? I'll do anything."  
  
"I can't say," said Xander. "Not until I check to see if eh option is still open."  
  
"Well check," said Pheobe nervously twitching. "What do you need, a phone, cause we got a phone..."  
  
"Its better I do that in person." Xander grinned. "Might take a couple hours. Don't do anything until I get back."  
  
"Nothing but get that spell ready," said Piper, determined."  
  
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Two hours later, it was full night, and every light in Halliwell House gleamed forth, and every once in a while, Xander could see a curtain moving. Like someone was expectantly watching for someone to come. He sighed. The option had been accepted. Now it was time to see if she was still willing to go along with it. He was practically dragged to the living room.  
  
The first thing he saw was the assembled ingredients for the renunciation spell. Piper looked as determined as ever.  
  
"Well," demanded Pheobe.  
  
"They went for it,' Xander told her. "I'll take you on a couple trial runs, then we'll see what happens. But, you must promise one thing."  
  
"Anything. What is it?"  
  
"You can't talk about this to anyone. Not even to your sisters."  
  
"Hey, I don't think I like this."  
  
"You can talk to Leo, but not where anyone can hear, and you can't give details. If you do this, you can remain as part of the Charmed Sisters, and the Power of Three will be intact. Do you agree to this?"  
  
"I don't know," said Piper. "Those seem like harsh conditions. We always share our problems."  
  
"No," said Pheobe, " we can do this. Please, can't we just get on with it?"  
  
"Are you sure, Pheobe?" Piper was very sure she didn't want Pheobe pressured into this.  
  
"Very sure," Pheobe assured her. "I'll be fine." She turned to Xander "What do I do?"  
  
"Take my hand," Xander reached out his and at the same time began to glow. Piper took a step forward but stopped when Leo placed a hand on her shoulder."  
  
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Xander stepped out of the alley, followed by a nervous Pheobe. On the street was the mangled wreck of a car, wrapped around a telephone pole, that had been pretty much snapped in half. Two stretchers lay beside the vehicle, one silent, the body covered by a blue blanket, while the paramedics worked frantically on the other.  
  
"That one," Xander indicated the activity. "Was the driver. He'll survive." He stepped out onto the road, past the police guards and stopped by the other still stretcher. "Don't worry," he assured Pheobe, "They can't see, or hear us."  
  
He squatted down by the stretcher, and motioned for Pheobe to join him. Almost magically the blanket faded, revealing a blond girl, barely into her twenties. Pheobe gasped as the girl opened here eyes, and began to sit up.  
  
"But, shes..." Pheobe shut her mouth at Xander's signal. He was intend on the girl, while Pheobe took it all in. The girl was sitting, but her body hadn't moved. It had to be the girl's spirit, her soul, getting ready to leave her body.  
  
Xander held out a hand to help the girl to her feet, and almost with out knowing it, Pheobe moved to help. Together they helped the girl to stand, and with her between them guided her towards a vortex of swirling white energy.   
  
Together they passed through it and found themselves in a large white room, with a single oaken table running down the length, and two angelic beings, dressed in gleaming white.  
  
"Your Grandmother is waiting for you, Sarah," Xander told the girl. "See, she's coming now."  
  
An elderly woman came through a far door, and smiled as she approached. Pheobe and Xander stepped back as Sarah moved to forward and was enveloped in her grandmother's arms.  
  
"That wasn't so bad," Pheobe said smiling. "I could do this."  
  
"Wait," said Xander. "We're not finished."   
  
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This time they found themselves in a stark room, with only one piece of furnishing. A bed, with outstretched arms, where a man was fastened down, in what seemed a perversion of the Crucifixion.  
  
"Wayne Jonathon Marsden." Xander stepped forward, and smiled at the man.  
  
"Who are you man?"  
  
"That doesn't matter."  
  
"I'll yell for the screws."  
  
"They won't see us, or hear us," Xander said quietly. "We're your last hope."  
  
"My last hope? You gonna get me off this? You don't look like the governor, man."  
  
"We can't stop whats going to happen here. But we can help you with what comes after."  
  
"Comes after? Man, I'm gonna die here. They're gonna pump poison into me and I'm gonna die. There ain't nothing coming after."  
  
"I think you know that's not true."  
  
"Yeah, I went to Sunday School, taught me all about heaven and hell. I killed a man, sure I didn't mean to, but still I killed a man. They won't want me in Heaven and I don't want to think about the other place."  
  
"You don't have to go there,' cried Pheobe. "You're paying for your crime here. "You could always..."  
  
"He has to come to that decision on his own," said Xander, stopping Pheobe from saying more. "He knows what he must do, everyone does. Every chance has to be given, but he has to come to the decision alone."  
  
The second hand of the clock above the execution bed moves at a snails pace, but move it did. Xander and Pheobe stood well out of the way, as the door opened and the Warden entered, followed by a Minister. Wayne's lips began to move, and the Minister moved in so he could hear better. Soon the Minister joined in with the prisoner's prayer.  
  
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This time they were in an empty alley. Empty except for the body lying in the road, still.  
  
"He's a drug dealer," Xander told Pheobe. "He sold his poison to school children, some of whom sold for him "  
  
"We're going to give him a chance to redeem himself. Get forgiven?"  
  
"Every chance has to be given," said Xander. "This one has overdosed and what he took was laced impurities. Even if we tried we couldn't get through."  
  
"But you said..."  
  
"Every chance has to be given. His mind is scattered so many ways, there is no chance. This time we wait."  
  
It wasn't a long wait before the man's spirit rose out of it's body. This time the vortex was grayish black and streaked with flames and lightening. Pheobe stared at it then looked at Xander.  
  
We're going to a different place," Xander said grimly. "Just remember, it was his choice that brought him, and us, here." He started to guide the spirit towards the whirling engulfing vortex.  
  
As before, the transition through the vortex seemed almost instantaneous, and Pheobe stepped into a room almost exactly like the others. Except that this one appeared to be made out of unadorned cinder blocks, and the table was pitted and scarred. There were no angelic being dressed in glowing white, but rather two bloated demons, who might have been wearing something under those rolls of fat, but Pheobe wasn't willing to swear to that. They grinned ferally as Xander guided the drug dealer towards them.  
  
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Pheobe's eyes were haunted as she was met at the door by Piper, who drew her into a hug. Leo stepped out behind her. "Rough night," he asked quietly.  
  
Pheobe nodded against Piper's shoulder.  
  
"Do you want to talk? Paige is in bed and Piper's promised to wait up upstairs. The floors are thick and carpeted, so they won't hear anything."  
  
Pheobe nodded again.  
  
"Are you going to do it," asked Piper.  
  
Pheobe nodded a third time. 


End file.
